Impulse transmitting device



Aug. 10, 1943. H. F. QBERGFELL IMPULSE TRANSMITTING DEVICE Filed Nov. 2, 1940 u s w m Rms N WSW R OE N .G T WWW T am A '8 mm a Patented Aug. 10, 1943 r 2,326,388?" p U I PU SE TRANSMITTENG nnvion Herbert F. Obergfell; River Forest, and Hans Sengebusch, Villa Park, 111.,- assignors to Associated Electric Laboratories, Inc., Chicago, 111.,

a corporation of Delaware Application November 2, nurseries Na 3 64 040 2 Claims. (01. 177-380) The present invention relates to impulse transmitting devices of the type employed in code signaling systems.

Code signaling systems conventionally comprise impulse transmitting devices of special and complicated construction in order to send the various ccde signals thereover.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved impulse transmitting device adapted for use in code signalingsystems, which is of the general construction and arrangement conventionally employed in automatic telephone systems and which is'of simple and rugged construction. i

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved impulse transmitting device of the finger-dial type which comprises an arrangement for positively preventing false or incomplete operation thereof The objects set forthabove are attained in accordance with the present invention by provid ing an impulse transmitting device comprising'a rotatable shaft, a fingerwperated dial carried by the shaft and operative to rotate the shaft in one direction, a spring motor, an operative connection between the shaft and the spring motor, whereby the spring motor is wound when the shaft is rotated in the one direction and the shaft is rotated in the opposite direction when the spring motor is unwound, an impulse wheel and a one-way drive connection between. the shaft rotation of. the shaft corresponding to a full winding of the spring motor for releasing the latch, thereby to unlock the impulse wheel for rotation. I

.More particularly, thearrangement for posi tively preventing false or incomplete operation ofthe device comprises a movable latch carried in guided relationship with respect to the 1m pulse wheel, a cooperating shoulder'carried by the impulse wheel, resilient means for urging the latch into engagement with the shoulder;'there-' by; normally to lock the impulse wheel against ro tatiomeand'a trip carried by the shaft and cooperating with the latch, whereby thetrip is' op erative to disengage the latch from the shoul der when the shaft is rotated a fixed predetr mined amount correspondingto a full winding in the appended claims.

of the spring'motor, thereby 'tounlockthe inl- V pulsewheel for rotation.

Further features of thejinvention pertain to the particular construction and-arrangement of the elements of the impulse transmitting device, whereby, the above-outlined and additional operating features are'attairied. j

The novel features believedto be characteristic of the invention are set forth with particularity The invention,- bothas to-its organization and method of operationg'toe' gether with further objects and advantages. thereof; will best heunderstood by reference to the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying'dr'awing', in which Figure 1 is a'fragmentaryiront View, of an impulse transmitting device embodyingv the presentin ventionrFig. '2 is a fragmentary side elevational View, partly in section-{of the impulse transmit- I ting device shown in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a rear view, partly broken away, of the impulse transmittingdevice. I 1

Referring now more particularlyto Figs. 1 to 3,, inclusive, of the'd'rawing, theimpulse transmit ting device there illustrated comprises a substan-.

tially cup' shaped casing Iii-having a centrally disposed opening in thebotto'm .wall, thereof, in which a tubular supporting column H is rigidly afii'xed. A rotatable driving shaft [2 is'. suitably journaled interiorl'y of the; supportingv column I I; Whilea'rotatable bushing I3 'is suitably 'journaled exteriorly of the supporting columnjll. The outer end of the driving shaft I2 has a substantially rectangularhead thereon which'is re-- ceived inaligned openingsprovide'd ina stop cam l4 and a finger dial E5; the finger dial l5 be ing arranged exteriorly of the stop cam l4, and both the stop cam, M, and the finger dial l5 being securelyfastened tothe head 'ofthe drivingshaft l2 by a screw 16. ,The" finger dial l5has a.sub-' stantially cup-shaped recess centrally disposed therein, which receives an escutcheon plate I1" which covers the screw 16. Also, a finger receiv I cooperates with oppositely. disposed shoulders;

provided on a lug 22 carried by the stop cam I4. The bushing l3 comprises a ratchetwheel 23 and a driving gear 24 arrangedvin spaced-apart relationship longitudinally of the airis thereof.

A pawl 25 is pivotally' mounted upon a pivot pin 26 carried by the stop" cam" MI and arranged in cooperating relationship with respect to the ratchet wheel 23. The pawl is biased in a clockwise direction, as viewed in, Fig. 1, about the pivot pin 26, toward the ratchet wheel 23 'by'a coil spring 21 extending between the pawl 25 and the lug'22. The inner end of the driving shaft [2 carries a head 28 which supports a trip 29 which is utilized for a. purpose more fully explained hereinafter; Also, a, spring motor in the form of a coil spring 30 is provided, which surrounds the driving shaft 12, one end of the coil spring 30 being afiixed to the bushing l3 and the other end of the coil spring 3|] being 'affixed to the head 28. p Also, a rotatable driven shaft 3|. is suitably. journaled in the bottom wall of the casing l0 and has a driven gear 32 rigidly affixed thereto.

carried thereby may be readily broken oif for a purpose more fully explained hereinafter.

The upporting bracket 41 is provided with an upstanding fiange 5ito which there are'secured a stationary contact spring 58 and a movable contact spring 53 by two screws 68, the contact springs 58 and 59 being suitably insulated from each other and from the fiange5i by a number of intervening'layers of insulating material 61. Also, the contact springs 53 and 53 respectively carry two terminals 62 and 63 which extend through two openings provided in the bottom well, not shown, of the housing 44 in order to siacilitate connection of the contact springs 58 .and Elite an external circuit... The movable contact spring 59- is biased due-to its resiliency Further, a pin 33 is rigidly aflixed in an opening. 1'

provided in the bottom wall of the casing l0 and.

, spindle. 35 carries aworm .gear 39 which is utilized for a purpose more fully explained here-' inafter. r r I Theelements of the impulse transmitting devicedisposed Iwithin the cup-shaped casing l9 are" partially enclosed by .asubstantially. dishshaped cover plate! extending fr'omthe periphery of the outer wall of the casing I0 inwardly below the finger dial I5, the outer marginal edge I, of the cover plate 40 being disposed in'an annular recess 4| provided in the edge of the outer wall of the casing Hi. The cover plate 40 is securedin place'by a snap bracket 42 carried by the bottom wall of the casing Ill andip'rovided withjresilient fingers 43 which receive-the inner marginal edge of the coverTplate 40. Also, the casing I3 is carried by a substantially cup-shaped housing 44 formed of insulating material; the outer wall of the casing l0 beingdisposed in an annular-recess 45 provided in the outer wall of the housing. l 7 It is notedthat the outer surface of the bottom wall of the casing") carries, in addition to the bracket 31, the housing 46 of a speed governor and a supporting. bracket 41, the supporting bracket 41 being secured to the bottom wall of the casing H! by two screws 48 and 43. The speed governor comprises; in a'ddition to the housing 46," arotatable shaft" 53 suitably journaledin' the: housing 45 and in the bracket 31. The shaft 50 carries a worm 5| arranged in meshing 'relationship with respect to. the worm gear, 39. and-a plurality of weighted friction arms 52 extending within'the housing 46.. 1

Theout'er 'end 'of the driven shaft 3| has rigidly afiixedthereto an impulse wheel including a supporting base 53 and a toothed cam 54; the supporting base 53 being rigidly afiixed to the outer end of the driven shaft 3| by a set screw 55 and thetocthed cam 54 being removably secured to the supporting base 53by a screw 55. Preferably,the toothed cam' 54 is formed'of a f fibrous insulating material, whereby the teeth toward the stationary contact spring 53 in order normally to engage the pair of contacts carried by the contact springs 58 and 55. Also, the

movable contact spring 59 is provided with an operating head 64 disposed in cooperating relationship with respect to the teeth carried by the cam 54. I

. A compound latch is pivotally mounted upon the supporting bracket 4'! and comprises two spaced-apart members forming a first link 65 and an intermediate link 66, one end of the link 65 being pivoted upon the screw 49 and the other end of the link 65 being-pivoted to the link 66 by a pivot pin 8?. Also, the supporting bracket,

i1 carries two spaced-apart stopsfifl disposed on opposite sides of the link 65. The link 65 is biased in aclockwise direction about the screw 49 and the link 66 is biased in a counterclockwise direc tion about 'the pivot pin 5'| by an arrangement including a coil spring 68 one end of the coil spring 68' being arfixed to the bracket ,3! and the other end oi the coil spring 58 being affixed to the link 66. Further, the link 66 carries an operating finger 69 which is normally disposed to .engage a shoulder 10 provided by. a notch formed in the supporting base 53 of the impulse wheel. Finally, the link 66 carries a tripping finger 'l-l arrangedin cooperating relationship withrespect to the trip 29.

Considering now the operation of the impulse transmitting device, it is noted thatit is oper-- ativeto transmit a fixed predetermined code, depending uponv the arrangement of the teeth carried by the cam 54. When the impulse trans.- mitting device is initially installed at a. given signaling station, appropriateones of the teeth carried by the cam 54am broken off in order to form a code individual and corresponding. to the given, signaling station. More particularly, the

teeth, carried by the cam 54 are broken off to provide aplurality of clusters of teeth corre sponding to the desired code, each cluster of teeth comprising either two or three adjacent teeth,

7 and the adjacent clusters'of teeth being separated either two or three teeth,may be provided irom the simple cam 54 having originally only a relatively few teeth.

In order to' cause the impulse transmitting de vice to transmit a code,the user inserts his finger l into the finger receiving recess l8 provided in the finger dial" l 5 and rotates the fingerdial l5'almost one completerevolution in a clockwise'direction, as viewed in Fig. 1. It:.is noted that the normal position of the'finger dial ,I5 is established bythe engagement between the stop portion 2|:of

2!: slides over the teeth the fingerstop l9 and one:of the-shoulderspro vided on the lug 22 carried by the stop cam l4; similarly, the"final operatec position citric-finger dial 1 5 is established b tneengagementbetween the stop porti'on'il of the :finger stop l9 and the other. of the shouldersiprovided on the ing 22 As previously. noted,

ill

with, whereupon the pawl 25 pivotally mounted on the stop cam 14 slides over the teeth provided on the ratchet wheel 23. Accordingly, as the finger diall I 5, the stop cam and the driving shaft [2 are rotated in the clockwisedirection, there is no tendency for the ratchet whee-1:23 to be rotated away fromits normal position as the pawl provided thereon, as previously noted. f

It is pointed out that, when the finger dial I5 is rotated in the clockwise direction awayfrom its normal position, in orderto wind the coil spring 30, it must be fully operated to it final position in the clockwise direction in'order fully to wind the coil spring 39 before it may bereleased for return movement in the counterclockwise direction back into its normal-position due to the arrangement of the latch comprising the links 65 and 55 and the cooperating shoulder 10 provided on the supporting base 53 of the impulse wheel, as will appear more fully hereinafter.

Referring now more particularly to the rear view of the impulse transmitting device shown in Fig. 3, it is noted that the coil spring tends to rotate the driven shaft SI and, consequently, the supporting base 53 of the impulse wheel in a clockwise direction when the coil spring 39 is even partially wound and the finger dial I5 is released. However, the engagement between the operating finger 69 carried by the link 66 of the latch and the shoulder NJ provided on the sup porting base 53 of the impulse wheel positively prevents rotation of the impulse wheel. However, when the finger dial l5 has been rotated almost one complete revolution in the counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 3, thereby to cause the coil spring 30 to be fully wound,

the trip 29 carried by the driving shaft l2 engages the tripping finger H carried by the link 65 of the latch, whereupon the link 66 is rotated in a clockwise direction about the pivot pin 6'! against the bias of the coil spring 68 in-order to cause the operating finger 69 carried by the link. 66 to disengage the shoulder 10 provided on the supporting base 53 cf the impulse wheel. When the operating finger 85 disengages the shoulder iii, the link 65 is rotated in a clockwise direction about the screw 49 by the coil spring 58, whereby the link 65 is moved therewith so that the operating finger 69 cannot reengage the shoulder l'll prior to full rotation of the impulse wheel. Thus, the impulse wheel is unlatched and the driven shaft 3| is free to be driven in the clockwise direction. As the driven shaft 3| is rotated in the clockwise direction, the teeth carried by the cam 54 alternately engage and dis engage the operating head 54 of the movable contact spring whereby the pair of contacts carried by the contact springs 58 and 59 are controlled in accordance with the code on the cam '55 in order to cause the impuls transmitting device to send from the associated signaling sta- Lil "circuit;

. 2 Considering nOWFigs; 1 and. 2-01? the drawing. after the-ringer. dial ldzhas-been rotated'in the ciociiwise direction, in: orderto cause the coil spring 38 tribe fully wound and tovca'use the latch-arrangement associated-with the impulse wheel to be tripped, 1 and the finger. dial '95 has been released, theIcoil spring 30 is unwound due shaft it When thebushing i3 is driven in the counterclockwise direction the drivinggear 2 5 carried thereby rotates thetransmiss'ion gear 3d meshingtherewith in theclockwise direction. When the transmission gear 34 is. driven in the clockwise directionthe drivenfigear' 32 meshing therewith is rotatedin the counterclockwise-direction thereby; to drive the driven shaft 35 in the'counterclockwise direction inorder to cause operation of the impulse wheel, in the manner previously explained. Reconsidering Fig. 2. of the. drawing, it is noted that, when the bushing leis driven in the counterclockwise direction, the pinion 38 meshing-therewith'is rotated in the clockwise direction, thereby to cause rotation of the spindle 35 in the clockwise direction. Referring now to the rear view of the impulse transmitting device shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing, when the spindle 35 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction the worm 'gear 39 carried thereby rotates the worm El and the shaft 5!] to which the worm 51 is afiixed in the counterclockwise direction, thereby to cause the weighted arms 52 carried-by the shaft 51] to be thrown outwardly into frictional engagementwith theinterior of the governor housing 46, whereby the speed of rotation of the various" rotatable parts is established. This arrangement causes rotation of the impulse wheel at a substantially constant speed, thereby to establish the rate at which the impulse transmitting device is operative to transmit the code therefrom.

While there has been described what is at present considered to be the preferred embodimerit of the invention, it will be understood that various modifications may be made therein, and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such modifications as fall within the'true spirit and scope of the invention; 7

What is claimed is:

1. An impulse transmitting device comprising a rotatable shaft, a finger-operated dial carried by said shaft and operative to rotate said shaft in one direction, a spring motor, an operating connection between said shaft andsaid spring motor, whereby said spring motor is wound when i said shaft is rotated in saidone direction and said shaft is rotated in the opposite direction when said spring motor is unwound, an impulse wheel, a one-way drive connection between said shaft and said impulse wheel, whereby said impulse wheel is rotated when said shaft is rotated only in said opposite direction, a support, a first link pivotally mounted on said support, a second link ivotally mounted on said first link, a cotion-the individual a ms te-m signer op erating shoulder carried by said impulse wheel, resilient means for biasing said secondlink into engagement with said shoulder, thereby to, latch said impulsewheel against rotation and to prevent rotationof said shaft in said oppositedirection, and a trip carriedby said shaft and coopmeans being operative to move said second link about its pivot when saidsecond link disengages said shoulder, thereby positively to prevent said second link from reengaging said shoulder prior to full rotation of said impulse wheel.

2. An impulse transmitting device comprising a rotatable shaft, a finger-operated dial carried by said shaft and operative to rotate said shaft in one direction, a spring motor, an operating connection between said shaft and said spring motor, whereby said spring motor is wound when said shaft is rotated in said one direction and said shaft is rotated in the Opposite direction when said spring motor is unwound, an impulse wheel, a one-way drive connection between said shaft and said impulse wheel, whereby said impulse wheel is rotated when said shaft is rotated only in said opposite direction, a supporting plate, a movable contact control spring carried said impulse wheel.

by said supporting plate-in cooperating relation ship-withrespect to said impulse wheel, a first linlspivotallymounted at its inner-end on said supporting plate, asecond link pivotally mounted at .itsrinner end on theouter endof said first -link,a oooperating shoulder carried by said impulse wheel-resilient means for biasingsaid first link aboutits pivotallyQrnounted inner end and its pivotally'mounted inner end against the bias of said resilient means in order to cause the cuter end thereof to disengage said shoulder when saici'shaft is rotated a fixed predetermined amount in said one direction corresponding to a full winding of said spring motor, thereby to unlatchlsaid impulse wheel for rotation and to permit rotation'of said shaft in said opposite direction, said resilient means being operative to move said first link about its pivotally mounted inner 'end'when' the outer end of said second link disengages said shoulder, thereby positively to prevent the outer endof saidsecond linkfroin reeng'aging-saidshoulderprior to full rotation of HERBERT F. OBERGFELL. HANS SENGEBUSCH.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,526,588. August 10, 1914.5.

HERBERT F. OBERGFELL, ET AL.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows In the heading to the drawing, for "H. F. OBERGFJEILL read --H. F. OBERGFELLET AL--; page 5, second column, line 72, and page A, first column, line 51, after "rotated" insert -only--; page 5, sec 0nd column, line 75 and page L first column, line 52, strike out "only"; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 5th day r October, A. 1). 1915.

Henry Van Arsdale, (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

